28 Days Later
by kirstycream
Summary: An experimentation gone horribly wrong. Now 28 days later after being hospitalised in a coma, Sora, Riku and Kairi find themselves suddenly completely alone on Destiny Islands. As they search to find their salvation, mysterious people and...
1. How It Started

Summary: _'An experimentation gone horribly wrong. Now 28 days later after being hospitalised in a coma, Sora, Riku and Kairi find themselves suddenly completely alone on Destiny Islands. As they search to find their salvation, mysterious people and horrifying creatures get in their way.'_

I watched the film a couple days ago and really thought that this could work. So yes, this story is slightly based on the film's storyline but I'm making it into a Kingdom Hearts atmosphere, so it will be purely Kingdom Hearts characters and Kingdom Hearts scenery, and I'm trying to spiral the Kingdom Hearts story in with it too. I will add a bit of romance, but where the romance lies you will have to wait and see ;D

So I hope you enjoy this as much as I will writing it!

**28 Days Later…**

Chapter 1

_**Ansem Report #1**_

_My efforts these many years have come to fruition, with the world I govern having become a paradise worthy of being called "Radiant Garden."_

Nurtured by the pure water that is the source of life, fragrant flowers bloom in abundance, and the people face each day with hopeful smiles.

But where there is light, darkness also lurks.

As noted in my earlier reports, I must solve the mystery of this "darkness of the heart." This paradise depends on it.

I shall perform an experiment to probe the depths of a person's heart. One of my own apprentices, Xehanort, has volunteered to be a subject.

The young man has served me ever since I nursed him back from death's door some years ago. He had lost all his memories at the time, but later showed remarkable intellectual curiosity and readily absorbed my teachings, gaining deep wisdom. Any mental immaturity is surely due to his young age.

If I explore Xehanort's heart with psychological tests, I may be able to recall the past locked away within. My apprentice Even has also shown great interest in Xehanort's memories.

But is he really the right subject? Xehanort does indeed exhibit extraordinary talents...

Too extraordinary... Perhaps they are even superhuman.

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The cold air in Ansem's study fell unusually quiet today. The countless papers on the desk remained untouched and faced down as the two men in the room looked at each other intently. Nothing could be heard apart from the distant sounds of the generators in the castle. No words were spoken for at least ten minutes. The elderly man who sat behind the desk had his eyes in a harsh glare, and the tall elegant man standing before him looked in only all seriousness at him.

"You're preparing to risk your life for this experiment." The elderly man cut the silence softly.

"I am," the other man's serious tone matched as if proving something.

"Xehanort, I forbid it."

"Master Ansem, you must understand…"

"No!" Ansem's voice rose slightly and Xehanort's eyes darkened feeling almost threatened. "Forget this talk of 'hearts'. I have taught you all too well for you to be thinking this way, and even I have to say that it is dangerous. Do not underestimate the powers of the human heart, Xehanort. Not even you, the most intelligent and exceptional scientist I have ever met will truly understand such a creation."

Xehanort had to admit; he admired his teacher, his master. Only words but wisdom were spoke by the man, he would never doubt that. However Xehanort felt he had to rule his own ambitions and seek knowledge his own way, it would be the only way to surpass his wise teacher.

Xehanort could only obey Ansem and give a small sigh to himself. He couldn't argue with the man who had brought his dreams to life and taught him in so many ways. His dreams and ambitions would live on, he had no doubt about that, with or without his master's help. "Very well."

He gave a small bow and left Ansem's study with no readable expression for his master to observe. Ansem narrowed his eyes and watched as the door closed after him. He didn't like the way his apprentice's ambitions had evolved so quickly, and it had gotten to a point where he could not truly read Xehanort's mind anymore. The man was far too unpredictable for comfort.

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"I'm telling you Even, this whole thing seems a bit sketchy. I really think old man Ansem's right on this one," Braig said to his companion as he sat on the side cabinet in the big white laboratory, his long black and silver hair flowing behind him in a ponytail.

"Braig, your voice is irritating and distracting," Even replied in a cruel voice as he gathered up several test tubes with different coloured liquids inside. His white lab coat had all kinds of colourful stains marked on it, showing how passionate an alchemist he was.

"As if. You say that to me every time."

"Because I mean it every time."

The large metal door of the laboratory opened loudly and Xehanort strode in with a look of murder across his elegant features. The two men looked at him not daring to say a word incase they pissed him off, but Even soon carried on with his small experiments without fazing. He'd gotten used to his old friend's mood far better than Braig had.

"Even, Braig, I need to speak with you all at once. Follow me to the main experimentation room." His voice was a lot serious than ever before, even Even could sense this. Braig suddenly didn't like the way he wanted them in the room Ansem usually never allowed anyone into.

"What's happened now?" Even sighed placing his test tubes in the small rack and taking his white gloves off.

"I'll explain everything in a moment." Xehanort walked out of the door again expecting the two to follow and, of course, they did.

Braig jumped off from the cabinet and screwed his face up following Even out the door. "He seems really pissed," he whispered to Even. Even smirked.

"I think he's finally snapped."

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Braig walked last into the huge experimentation room and greeted his other fellow scientists; Dilan, Ienzo and Aeleus. All but one in the huge castle were gathered together here, in front of a machine familiar to them all. The machine Ansem forbade any of them to use.

"Why have you dragged us to a machine we cannot use, Xehanort?" Ienzo asked before anyone spoke, not wanting to waste his time.

Xehanort turned with a smile towards his friends, his long white hair whirring around with him. "A machine we cannot use? Or a machine we aren't _allowed_ to use?"

Even smirked to himself. He was right afterall. Xehanort had finally decided to rebel against his master, he could tell by the strange look in Xehanort's eyes.

"Gentlemen, all of the answers to our research lies right infront of us. We'll leap ten steps ahead towards our goals! To finally understand the human heart. Once we understand it, we will have countless options, countless answers. Our minds will be at ease." The five men before Xehanort were indeed listening. They all admired his intelligence and trusted him with their lives. "So please, let us conduct the final experiment that will answer all of our questions. Us, six men with strong hearts; we'll be the key to a perfect experiment. And we all know this machine can do it."

The men fell silent, as silent as it had been in Ansem's study, and Xehanort grew anxious. He needed his friends, his scientists, without them he could not do this. His heart alone would not be powerful enough to control this experiment.

"I have always trusted you Xehanort," Aeleus began, "and I will trust you with my life. With your wisdom I believe this cannot fail." He stood bold and faced Xehanort. Xehnort placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Thankyou, my friend."

The other four men grew some courage from Aeleus's small speech and nodded.

"You have never let me down, Xehanort," Dilan spoke.

"I have to agree, I do think this might work," Ienzo added.

"You know I have always been obsessed with this experiment too," said Even.

Xehanort smiled in thanks to his fellow scientists then looked towards Braig who stood at the side, arms folded to his chest, eyes to the ground. Xehanort walked towards Braig.

"And you, Braig?"

"You know that Ansem doesn't…"

"Ansem has no faith in the heart, he'd lost that faith a long time ago. He has taught us all very well and we must all admire him for it. But he isn't willing to take the bigger step, the step we must take to make him proud."

"If he is as wise as we think, shouldn't we take his advice and not mess around with his huge machines?"

"Coward," Dilan retorted and folded his arms over his broad chest.

Braig frowned and scowled at Dilan, he refused to be called a coward. He knew if he didn't go along with this he'd be banished from the small group, cast aside as the master's pet. He sighed. What could it hurt? Xehanort did always know what he was doing.

"Okay, I'm in."

Xehanort smiled and closed his eyes in relief then turned towards the machine in awe, his eyes wide and mouth curved. Nothing could stop him now. Although originally he was only willing to test his own heart, his selfish side had caught the better of him recently and decided that six hearts were better than one. With each heart being unique, he'd have a lot more answers and intelligence in his hands.

Ansem had once taught him that every heart is consumed with both light and darkness. It was the darkness he was very curious about, the darkness in people's hearts. What was it? Was it powerful or weak? Could he remove it and store it some place else? Extract people's darkness and make them whole, solely light. The machine was created to do purely that, to remove the darkness from one's heart. The six men and Ansem had researched for years on this, until Ansem had finally gathered enough information to create this wonderful machine. Xehanort never understood why Ansem was never fully prepared to use the machine on a real heart.

His excitement grew and grew as the six of them got into their positions inside the human sized pods. The pods would send them into unconsciousness and wires and tubes would be connected to their chests, while the machine would 'read' their hearts. The machine was stated 'unstable' by Ansem, but Xehanort had failed to mention that to the other apprentices.

"Braig, I'll need you to manual the machine while we are inside it, after that you can quickly climb into your own pod then this man can do the rest," Xehanort pointed towards a normal looking lab assistant as he bowed toward Braig slightly.

Braig looked at the others who seemed fairly confident with this whole thing. He then looked to Xehanort and nodded reluctantly.

"You're the only one who can do that for me." Xehanort patted his shoulder then walked towards his own pod as Braig watched him closely. He didn't know why but he was still uncertain about this whole procedure, but he had to trust his friends, to trust Xehanort.

Braig stood behind the control panel and locked the pod doors and the five men looked at him proudly through the glass doors. It was encouraging, and Braig gave a small smile. He pushed the green button and the five men slowly fell asleep as gas lightly filled the pods. Next, the wires and the tubes connected into place on their chests. All Braig had to do now was push the big red button. He breathed in heavily and pushed it down. The generators began making a loud humming noise and the experimentation began.

Braig walked towards his pod casually thinking that this whole thing didn't seem so bad after all. "Heh, what was I thinking? I should have more faith in Xehanort." He stood outside his pod and nodded toward the lab assistant who nodded back behind the control panel. Braig took another deep breath and mumbled to himself, "good look bud…"

His thoughts were interrupted when strange noises began to erupt around the five men in the pods. He frowned and turned around to see the pods darker than usual. _What? The pods had no lights in the first place._ Braig walked cautiously towards the pod Ienzo was in and noticed a large shadow looming around his feet. Horrible noises cracked and screeched around all of the pods and he turned towards the lab assistant who looked equally confused.

"Did you press something?!"

"I swear sir, I didn't touch a thing!"

Braig snapped his head toward Xehanort's pod and his eyes widened as he saw the shadow beneath his feet taking a form of something. Braig then jumped away quickly from Ienzo's pod in surprise as his shadow was doing the same.

"What the hell is going on?" Braig said to himself as he watched the shadows in all the tanks take form into some sort of… creature. Once the formations had stopped the creatures stood still and looked almost asleep as they drooped. They stood in front of each man in the pods, almost as if they were their masters. Each creature was differently and oddly shaped, although all of them were pitch black, like the shadows. "This is so… weird." Braig walked towards the creature in Xehanort's pod and looked closely through the glass, examining the dark features.

"Sir! Look!" The assistant cried, pointing toward Even's pod. Braig turned his head towards Even's pod and the creature had its arm stuck inside of Even's chest hissing and screeching. Blood spewed everywhere from his chest and the life reading on his heart monitor drastically started beeping fast.

"Even!" Braig cried and ran toward his pod, banging on the glass as the creature pulled out Even's very heart. Braig fell to his knees, eyes wide, fear swooping all over his very soul.

"It won't let me open the doors sir!" The assistant yelled as he frantically pressed the button. The hissing and screeching began once more and Braig saw Dilan's creature doing the same thing. Then the same with Ienzo, then Aeleus, then Xehanort. Tears glazed in fear in Braig's eyes as he watched the strange creatures murder his friends. All that could be heard was screeching and tear of his fellow scientists flesh, then the faint beating of their own hearts. The heart monitors beeped and beeped until eventually they all fell into one single drowning tone.

"Open the fucking doors!" Braig screamed, tears streaming from his eyes. "I can't let them die! I can't let…"

The glass door of Even's pod behind Braig smashed open suddenly and the creature screamed and pounced on top of Braig, hissing in his face. Braig yelled and tried to keep the creature away from his chest, thinking it was the only thing he could do. It was no use, the creature had tremendous strength and soon he felt the pain of his chest being ripped open and he screamed twice as loudly as the creature did. The assistant watched with wide eyes and not long after, the creature's in the other pods smashed through the glass doors and ran towards the only sign of life they could find, him.

"Run! Fucking run!" Braig screamed at him, but it was too late. The four creatures ran with god like speed at him and soon their was only darkness.

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_**Ansem Report #2**_

_I have made a grave mistake._

My study of the "darkness of the heart" began with a simple psychological test and quickly snowballed.

Spurred on by my youngest apprentice Ienzo, I constructed a massive laboratory in the basement of my castle.

Unbeknownst to me, my six apprentices then began collecting a large number of subjects on which to perform dangerous experiments into the "darkness of the heart."

As soon as I found out, I called my apprentices together and ordered them not only to cease their studies, but to destroy the results of their research thus far.

What on earth was happening within the hearts of my six beloved apprentices? While pursuing the mystery of the darkness of the heart, could they themselves have strayed into its depths?

Yet I remain the most foolish of all, for having begun these experiments.

We are not meant to interfere in the depths of another's heart, no matter what our reasons for doing so...

And my error plunged me into despair.


	2. A Freak Accident

Chapter 2

_28 Days Later…_

Lidded eyes and fanned eyelashes rested quietly upon high cheekbones of a sleeping face. The resting body in the pristine white hospital room lay motionless as the machines peacefully beeped around him. Tubes were connected to his arms, and soft bruises and grazes lay across his creamy skin. His brown spiky hair was dirty, as it hadn't been washed for days, and his green baggy hospital clothes were creased. His body was sprawled across the bed, one arm above his head and one resting on his flat stomach. His legs were comfortably open, and the same for his mouth.

The boy's eyes twitched lightly, as did his left index finger in tow. His mind heavily came crashing down to earth and suddenly it became hard to breath in his sleep. His dreams became uncomfortable and his eyes screwed up, clamping his hands together. A rush of consciousness flew through his body then to his head and soon his eyes flew open widely and he shot up with a desperate gasp for air. His eyes darted around the room in panic, searching for something, for someone. Then the real reality hit him. He was in hospital, and his body was weak.

He gratefully calmed himself down and pulled the tubes out of his skin awkwardly, hating the way the liquid inside them was pumping stuff into him and not out. His mouth was unbearably dry, and his glans seemed to be reacting slowly. He noticed a mouldy apple on his bedside table and he cringed, thinking how disgusting this hospital was or how the nurse's service was so poor around here. They hadn't even noticed he was awake yet. How long had he been asleep?

Slowly he climbed out of the bed when suddenly memories of why he was in hospital in the first place ran through his mind. He looked concentrated at the floor as he tried to remember, and his eyes slowly shut.

"_Hey Riku, slow you down you idiot!" Kairi laughed in the backseat of the car._

"_Come on! The streets are empty today, give me a break snotface," Riku replied stepping down on the gas a little bit more._

"_Sora, help me out would you." Kairi poked Sora in the side as he sat next to her._

_Sora lifted himself up and poked his head out of the sunroof, enjoying the cool crisp air as it rode past his face, his spiky brown hair rustling in the wind. He smiled contently as he heard his two friends talk to each other about the picnic they were going to have. The food was in the boot all ready to go and Kairi had herself wrapped in the huge picnic blanket. They were all out in the country side of Destiny Islands, enjoying the solitude and the summer holiday. _

_Suddenly Sora felt hands on his legs then with a force they dragged him back into the car. Kairi giggled as Sora landed back onto the seat with a thud. Sora grinned at Kairi and grabbed the blanket, flinging it over the two of them as he tickled her relentlessly. Kairi laughed like a lunatic as she laid flat on the seats, Sora straddling her body so she couldn't wriggle away._

"_Hey guys," Riku interrupted from the drivers seat, "what's that?"_

_Sora lifted the blanket off the two of them then looked ahead to see what Riku was talking about. _

_What they saw ahead was definitely strange. A small blur of black was heading towards them at a weird speed. As it got closer, it looked like it was running straight towards them._

"_Riku, don't run it over," Kairi said, leaning in-between the gap of the two front seats with Sora._

"_I'll try not to, but there's nowhere for me to swerve." The road was only a country side, one-way road with a huge steep hill to the left, and a wall to the right._

_The black blur ran faster, making noises the three friends couldn't quite make out._

"_Riku…"Kairi was uneasy. If they didn't hit it, they'd have to swerve away from it into the hill. But if they did hit it, well, who knows. "Riku, stop the car."_

_Riku was getting a bit scared; the image of the black blur was becoming clearer now it was so close, and in all honesty he didn't want to stop the car. He didn't want to swerve it either, he wanted to keep his friends safe and not go crashing down the hill and probably die. The thing wasn't human, more like an animal, they wouldn't get into too much trouble for it._

_Riku stepped on the gas and the creature ran straight for him, the beady yellow eyes fixed onto Riku's aqua ones. Kairi screamed in fear and Sora held her hand as the car ran straight over it, strange coloured blood splattering all over the road. The front wheels skidded on the body of the creature and Riku lost control of the car. He turned the wheel in panic as the car headed straight for the side of the hill, but there was nothing he could do._

_The only sounds that could be heard as the car came crashing down the hill was the three friends screaming for their life._

Sora opened his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. He'd actually survived that. Then his mind came tumbling back to his friends. Did _they_ survive it?

Sora quickly scrambled to his feet and walked towards the door, opening it and looking down the silent and empty hallways. There were no doctors or nurses anywhere, he couldn't even hear one. He looked up to see a sign telling him he was in the ward where all the other coma patients were, so they couldn't be far.

Growling from his stomach made his pace slow, for all he knew he hadn't properly eaten in days. He felt lighter as he walked, he'd lost a few pounds during his coma. He could only assume he was in a coma anyway. He had no idea what had happened between the crash and him waking up a few minutes ago. The symptoms of his weak state could boldly prove it too.

He checked each room as he walked past every white door, finding nothing each time. He could only hope and pray Riku and Kairi were in a coma too, then hoped even more that they would wake up and not leave him alone. His mind slowly built into a state of panic when he thought about it. He honestly couldn't imagine his life without them, his two best friends. The thoughts made him quicken his pace a little. He couldn't bare it.

He stopped when he turned the corner and noticed a smashed open coke machine by the wall. It had been completely vandalized and broken open; the contents were scattered everywhere. Most of the cans had already been opened or spilled and the floor was sticky on Sora's bare feet.

Suddenly realising how thirsty he was he got to his knees and searched for a sealed can, casting away the empty ones. Once he found one and slumped against the wall with a thud and opened the can as it made a quick fizzy noise. Sora caught the coke that almost spilled everywhere with his mouth and drank the liquid quickly, gulping every mouthful down. His eyes drooped closed with pleasure as the cold coke soothed his dry throat.

"I know the feeling."

Sora lurched forward in shock at the voice and dribbled the coke all down his chest. A soft chuckle escaped from the person's lips as he crouched down to Sora with a smile. Sora looked at his silver haired friend and felt a rush of relief devour his body. Sora grinned and pounced at him, hugging him with dear life.

"Riku!" Sora laughed, happy as ever.

"Hey, I missed you too," Riku laughed and Sora let him go, the smile still playing on his lips. "How do you feel?"

"Really rough. I feel so weak, like all my strength has been ripped out of me."

"Probably because you haven't eaten properly for at least four weeks."

"Four weeks?!" So that's how long he'd been asleep, he'd missed most of the summer holiday already. The crash must have really been bad, but at least he was still alive. Now he'd have no time to finish the book report with Kairi for school. Wait... "Where's Kairi?"

Riku smiled and stood up, taking two cans of coke from the floor. "Come and see for yourself."

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Sora and Riku walked into a similar looking room to his not far from the coke machine, although the room was a little bigger. When Sora walked in the first thing he noticed in contrast to the white surroundings was Kairi's bright red hair. She had her back to them, staring out of the window. Sora watched as Riku walked up to her, a smile curving on his mouth. He was so happy his friends were okay, he felt as if he needed to thank someone with his life for this amount of luck.

There was no nurse in this room either; he'd not seen anyone in this hospital apart from Riku or Kairi at all. How Strange.

"Sora, you're awake!" Kairi tried to be ecstatic as she possibly could, but it looked like all the energy had been drained out of her as well. She was very pale, and looked a lot thinner. Sora gave a smile of concern when she didn't come running toward him, but instead slowly walked toward him. He generously met her halfway and enveloped her into a comfortable hug. "I was so afraid you wouldn't wake up." She whispered into his neck, eyes clamped shut.

Riku looked on with sad eyes. Kairi had been awake before either of them, 3 days earlier in fact. When Riku found her she was crying in the corner of her room all alone, no doctors ever coming to her aid, not even a nurse, no matter how many times she called for them. She was too scared to look too far for her two friends. The accident had really shaken her up. Riku hated himself for not waking up earlier, he hated the sight of how he found her, but most of all he hated himself for putting both her and Sora in so much danger.

"Kairi, it's okay, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere." Sora soothed her and stroked her matted hair while she quietly sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'll try and find us some food, and maybe a doctor or something," Riku told them. He walked towards the door and Kairi lifted her head to look at him.

"Riku please be careful." Kairi looked at him with pleading eyes and Riku gave her a comforting smile.

"Kairi I won't be long, you catch up with Sora, okay?"

Kairi nodded and watched him walk out of the door. Sora carefully brought her out of his embrace and looked at her face, tucking a few strands of red hair behinds her ears.

"Stop crying…"

"Sora there's no one here." Kairi half yelled desperately, tears glazing her eyes again.

Sora frowned, confused. He knew he'd not seen anyone yet but there had to be someone around this hospital somewhere. Kairi walked him towards the window pointing out to the streets of Destiny Island.

What Sora saw made him freeze. The streets were completely empty. The cars were dotted all over the roads motionless, there were no people anywhere, despite how busy Destiny Islands usually was. The silence was deadly, chilling, it creeped Sora out to a harsh level. He didn't like what he was seeing at all.

"Where is everyone?" Sora asked quietly, as if his voice could cause an avalanche.

"I've not seen a nurse or a doctor, even a patient, for 3 days," Kairi looked down at the window sill, "I've been totally alone. The silence was so scary I was too afraid to look for you. I thought the worst for a moment, thinking you were both dead. I didn't know what to do with myself, I just sat and cried."

Sora turned to face her, guilt rushing all over his body as she spoke in such a broken tone.

"When Riku found me in here I felt like I'd won the lottery," she half-laughed, causing Sora to smile lightly. Kairi looked up into Sora's eyes. "but you weren't with him."

"I'm sorry, Kairi, I… I just wish I'd woken up before you."

"It's not your fault," she grabbed Sora's hand, "don't be Riku and blame yourself. He's feeling so guilty over this whole thing it's not even funny."

Sora remembered the car accident, how Riku couldn't control the car as it swerved in the deadly direction, the look of fear across his face. "It wasn't his fault, it was just a freak accident. No one would have thought an animal could have caused that," Sora said.

"Was it an animal…"

The door of the room flew open and both Sora and Kairi looked as Riku breathlessly stood by the door with a large blood stained pole in his hand. Kairi gasped at his odd presence and walked as quickly as she could to him. Sora frowned at the bat, then to the blood splattered all over his green hospital clothes.

"Riku, what the hell?" Sora rushed to him aswell.

Riku panted and breathed heavily, holding onto the door for support. Even Riku hadn't gained his energy back. But what in world had he been up to?

Riku looked at his two friends, tears daring to glaze his eyes. "We have to leave, now."


	3. The Darkness Looming In

Chapter 3

Sora didn't like the way Riku's eyes welled up at that moment, the way Riku's arms were tensed to try and stop the shaking; it was obvious Riku was trying to control himself and keep as strong as he could for the sake of his two friends.

"What do you mean? Riku what the hell happened?" Sora ignored his own intentions of trying his best to remain calm. When Riku had blood splattered all over his clothes it was hardly the time to remain calm. "Is this your blood?!"

"No…"

Kairi's eyes widened. She could never imagine Riku beating anyone to bloody satisfaction without it being in self-defence. Never. "You were attacked."

"Yeah," Riku lifted his posture up and looked at the two, "and we need to go now, before it comes back."

"It…?"

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The three friends walked quickly through the white corridors, Riku carrying Kairi in his arms all the way as her body was still too weak for all this rushing. She may have had as little to eat as Sora and Riku, but she had been awake for three days with nothing more than coke and mouldy apples. It was scary how pale she was.

Sora kept his pace as well as he could. He didn't want to slow them down, but his stomach clenched in hunger and it was hard to keep up. Riku had always been slightly more athletic than Sora, giving him the advantage in almost everything they did. It bugged Sora senseless sometimes, because he was too lazy to try and be the same.

Riku turned his head a little to see Sora slowing down and he in tow slowed down for him.

"Come on Sora," Riku said with an encouraging smile.

"Heh, shut up, I can keep up."

Riku smiled but despite how strong and motivated he knew Sora was, he kept his pace down a little.

"We should go back to your place, Riku, it's closer, and you've always got food," Kairi suggested. Riku nodded and carried on walking. Kairi looked towards the blood on Riku's chest, her eyes downing slightly. "Who attacked you?"

"I don't know. It… reminded me of the day of the crash, but it wasn't quite the same. I couldn't even tell if it was human or an animal."

Kairi looked at Sora who looked equally confused.

"Whatever it was, it was vicious and loud, I'm surprised neither of you heard it. It kept reaching out to my chest and crying, then it got too dangerous and I… I had to kill it."

Kairi gave him a sympathetic look as Riku swallowed. He was quite torn, and she could tell. She laid a hand on his chest, above his heart, in a comforting effort to tell him it was alright.

They saw the exit ahead of them and they all walked quickly toward it, as if it being their salvation.

The reception area in front of the huge glass doors was totally wrecked. The windows were smashed, tables and chairs broken, bits of furniture scattered across the floor. Sora looked at it all as their pace slowed down to examine the wreck. They all wanted to ask the question, but all three knew none of them could know the answer. The mess and silence put together made the atmosphere too weird for comfort. Kairi gripped Riku's hospital shirt slowly as they walked through, feeling uneasy.

Their pace had slowed down totally and eventually Sora and Riku just stood still, brows furrowed in confusion as they stood in the ruins of the reception. The door was only a few feet in front of them yet they just stood still in a state of bewilderment.

"Hello?" Sora called, doing what he thought would be the smartest thing. His voice echoed loudly through the huge reception and for some reason, Sora regretted it badly.

There was some sudden rustling amongst the shattered reception desk and something quickly peered up from behind it. Riku, Sora and Kairi's reactions were slow and weak and they only just sensed it, jumping faintly away from it.

Riku frowned in a state of frustration and anger at the creature he swore he killed a few moments ago.

Kairi grabbed hard onto Riku's clothes at the chilling sight of the creature, and Riku held tight onto Kairi suddenly feeling very protective.

Sora kept his guard on as the creature stared straight at him with strikingly yellow beady eyes, a blank yet desperate look placed on its face. It instantly reminded Sora of the creature they encountered before the crash. Its body was just like a humans, apart from it being on all fours, and the skin being extremely dark, almost pitch black. Animal features could be noticed, like the pointy ears and the huge claws. When Sora noticed the claws, he suddenly became weary, and then remembered the blood covered bat he was holding.

"Sora stay on your guard, these things are fast." Riku stayed behind Sora, counting on his best friend to keep them all protected. Riku knew he couldn't fight and protect Kairi at the same time. Kairi watched on painfully, feeling like a huge burden. If Sora or Riku got hurt, she knew it'd be all her fault because neither of them could work together. But she had a lot of faith in Sora.

"When I say so, run straight for the exit, I'll catch up," Sora said whilst keeping his eyes on the creature that slowly crawled over the desk, breathing heavily as it starred straight at him.

"Don't be a hero!" Kairi yelled in frustration and dread, not wanting the fear of losing her best friend a second time.

Riku knew it would be the only way to get Kairi out of here, still he was weary of leaving Sora to kill it by himself. Riku had sent it flying across the corridor yet still hadn't been able to kill it. He watched as the creature reached its arm out, reaching towards Sora's chest and its eyes darkened.

"Sora!"

"Go!" With that Sora leapt forward just as the creature had and swung the bat straight at its body. The creature was thrown brutally to the left, slamming into the wall with a painful screech.

Riku frowned and ran straight for the exit, holding Kairi tight in his arms. Kairi watched with sad eyes as Sora got farther and farther away.

The creature screamed at Sora with a terrifying pitch and Sora squinted, readying himself for another swing. The creature was maddened and now as angry as ever. It ran at Sora with a speed Sora was not at all prepared for and all he could do was react as quickly as possible, swinging the pole with force. The pole only hit the creature's extended arm as it screeched again. Sora tried to ready the pole again but the creature knocked it right out of his hands with horrible strength. The only thing he could was get out of its range and avoid all of its attacks, whilst he tried to get the pole back. Judging by the creature's speed it seemed almost impossible.

The dark creature slammed Sora sideways with its other arm and Sora flew into the desk with a thud, landing on his knees with a painful cry. The creature snarled and stared at its prey helpless on the floor.

Sora cursed. His reflexes and his reactions were more than weak in his state of hunger and exhaustion. Usually this would be no problem, or so he hoped; he'd never really dealt with anything like this before.

Before he could even think, the creature had already started sprinting on all fours at him, arm slowly outstretching as it ran with only three legs. Its face was manic and Sora's eyes widened. All he could do was pathetically protect himself by covering his face with his arms, preparing for the worst.

Unexpectedly a circle of dark mist of black and silver wires appeared in front of Sora extremely quickly. The wires blurred and twisted upwards in a wicked fashion, then a figure came into focus as the wires and the circle disappeared. Sora couldn't tell if he was hallucinating or whether it was the depths of hell opening up to him already.

The Creature stopped dead in its tracks and screeched at the tall, mysterious, figure threateningly, annoyed it had interrupted.

Sora removed his arms and stared at the figure shrouded in only dark clothes. It stood with its back to him, facing towards the snarling creature in a relaxed posture. It wore only a long black leather coat with its hood covering its head and hiding its face, with long black boots. It stood there right in front of Sora calmly, fingers slowly flexing as it faced the dark creature.

Sora was now even more confused than ever. What the hell just happened?

The creature got ready to pounce and immediately the figure extended its arm and summoned what Sora could make out to be a scythe with an enormous pink and yellow blade. In one swift movement the figure had sliced the creature neatly in two halves. The creature screeched louder than before and Sora's eyes almost popped out of his head. The scythe was gracefully swung down again and this time it removed the head, causing the creature to suddenly stop its blood curdling screeching. Without time for Sora too fully acknowledge what was going on, the three parts of the dark monster dissolved into nothing but black smoke.

Sora sat there speechless as the figure walked forward slowly staring at the space the creature had dissolved from. In another almost angelic movement the scythe disappeared from its hand in a flurry of pink petals.

It turned its self towards Sora, though its face was completely shrouded in mystery by the hood of the coat.

"Wh… Who are you?" Sora asked gently, not completely sure what to think of this strange character.

The figure simply stood there and didn't answer, instead just pointed towards the exit. Sora looked to the exit and then remembered his friends were waiting for him. He'd never find them if he left it too long. Thinking of losing his friends made his mind quickly tense, not sure if he could handle being on his own if another creature should appear.

The dark circle and the wires returned, surrounding the staring figure as it simply disappeared within them.

Sora looked on in bewilderment, but didn't question it. There were far too many questions cooped up in his mind already. If Santa were to suddenly show up and tell him Christmas was all a lie, he wouldn't even question that because he was simply too confused about almost everything right now.

He slowly got up from the floor and held his arm from where the creature had hit him and winced in pain. For such an average sized thing, it sure was strong.

000000

Riku carried Kairi through the silent streets carefully. Things outside weren't much different from inside the hospital. The island seemed completely deserted.

Riku looked around suspiciously for anything that may be hiding behind abandoned cars that sat around the road. He had to be on his guard now he didn't have Sora to keep a watch out.

Kairi stared around the lonely island, looking for any sign of life or even movement. The only sounds that could be heard was the slight howl of the wind and the scuttling of stray litter on the floor. It was a hard thing to imagine Destiny Island being so empty, because of how vastly popular and loud it was. Yet here, in front of them the unimaginable came true.

Kairi felt Riku's arms shake a little and she looked up at his face. He was finding it difficult to carry Kairi with the limited amount of strength he had. She sighed.

"Riku I can walk, it's okay," she said making him stop.

"Honestly, it'd be a lot more of a pain to carry you if you fainted, so just relax," Riku said and looked down to her.

"I'm not going to faint," she sighed. She looked ahead of her and noticed an abandoned grocery store on the corner. "Look we can stop in there and wait for Sora. I'm sure the owners won't mind us eating some stuff."

Riku looked to where Kairi was and examined how safe it was. The windows didn't seem to be smashed and the door was wide open. The look of the countless food items on the shelves was enough to win him over. He nodded and carried Kairi toward the shop, hoping Sora would notice them in there.

"I really wonder what's going on, Riku."

Riku looked down to Kairi again and saw the torn look across her fragile features. It was clear she was scared and worried by everything. The freak car crash, the empty hospital, the mysterious creature, Sora, and now their abandoned island; it was all too much to take in.

"I don't know, Kairi," Riku said in dismay, "I really don't know."


	4. The Fear Traveling

Chapter 4

Another not too different story takes place a few hundred miles away. Across the wide ocean, through the enormous sky, to that of another world lies the same fear and confusion. The screams seem to travel through strange gateways.

Twilight Town

The two boys were choking whilst they ran, trying their best to keep their breaths steady and calm while sprinting for their very lives. One boy with blonde hair the spiked and curled in all directions. Another boy with sandy brown hair that slicked over, flicking its ends out at the back. Their expressions were worn out and tired. Only the greatest amount of fear could be shown in the one boy that couldn't keep up with the other.

"Hayner!" Roxas grabbed his friend's hand to try and pull him along faster, but the only thing it did was slow them both down. "Come on, we're not far from the sandlot," he rushed in-between breaths, pulling his friend as hard as he could.

"I'm sorry…" Hayner panted, gripping tight on Roxas's hand as they both ran.

A screech echoed through the air and Roxas felt his heart race. The sound was not too far behind them and he dreaded to think what would happen next.

Hayner turned his head as he felt Roxas's footing speed up, to see what was behind them. His eyes widened in terror at the black blur running toward them like a wild animal that'd found its food. "Oh god," he choked, "these things don't give up!"

Roxas didn't need to ask what Hayner was talking about, he knew. He'd witnessed it before, witnessed the horrors of what the creatures did to his other two friends. He was definitely not going to let the same happen to Hayner.

Roxas gripped Hayner's hand tighter once more and pulled him as hard as he could. But the worst happened. Roxas felt a gap in Hayner's footing and his heart almost pound straight out of his chest when he felt Hayner loose his footing completely and fall to the ground with a cry.

Roxas had to stop and try and lift his friend up as quickly as possible, no matter how ridiculously fast the creature was gaining on them. He wouldn't leave Hayner, never. "Hayner, get up, GET UP!"

Hayner lifted himself up quickly, cringing as he'd scraped his knees pretty hard on the stony ground. But he didn't care. As he got up he turned his head again and the fear rose higher as the creature was now clear enough to see the manic look across its face. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," Hayner panicked as he got up and started running again with Roxas.

The creature's screeches sounded like it was excited, and Roxas knew why. It was close enough now. The speed it had and the speed they had was enough to prove that. He had no choice now, he had to use force. He looked around in front of him and noticed a wooden plank by a wrecked shop. He turned, dragging Hayner with him, surprising his friend.

He let go of Hayner and picked up the plank, then turned back round to stand in front of Hayner, protecting him. Roxas had a great shock as he turned, seeing the creatures snarling face right in his own. His heart could have exploded with the shock. All the breathing, all the screeching, all the panicked voices in his head, everything came to a deadly halt. He stood there with his blue eyes wide, staring at the yellow beads of eyes only inches in front of him. The plank in his hands fell out of his fingers slowly as his mind had been driven mad with fear.

The creature stood still, breathing in and out loudly as it stared evilly at Roxas, trying to taunt his prey into even more fear. Hayner didn't know what to do, if he made any sudden moves at all the creature would kill Roxas, and it was far too close for Roxas to even do anything. Hayner couldn't just do nothing though, he couldn't stand there and watch the creature kill his best friend.

Hayner screwed his chances and grabbed the plank from the floor, lifting it above his head, ready to hit the creature, but something went wrong. The speed and reflexes of the creature were too much. In one foul move the creature had extended one arm to stop the plank from bashing on its head, and sight of where the other hand had gone made the entire colour drain from Roxas's face.

The dark arm of the death like creature had ripped through Hayner's chest, sending blood gushing out from the wound. Hayner stood there breathless, mouth open wide not knowing what to feel, the move was so sudden the pain took a few moments to respond, and when it did he cried out, feeling a tight grip around something inside of him. Hayner hated the sensation, he could feel every twitch the hand made inside of his chest, every twitch felt like a knife twisting.

Roxas couldn't move, he couldn't bare what he knew was going to happen next, and he knew he couldn't do anything about it. Tears leaked from his eyes freely and his face scrunched as he felt the pain in his own heart. Roxas choked a sob but still stood there unable to move, he breathed in, attempting to yell.

As if in slow motion, the creature pulled its arm out roughly as Roxas cried Hayner's name painfully. The blood gushed everywhere, splattering against Roxas's clothes, splattering against the creature's snarling face, splattering on the stony ground. And there that lay in the creature's hands was Hayner's golden heart. Its eyes shimmered in delight as the sight of its food.

Hayner's body, his shell, fell to its knees, to its hands, then to the ground with a horrible thud. The creature happily held the heart in its hands, and then took one last look at Roxas before it ran away.

Roxas's face was motionless and gaped, tears silently falling from his eyes as he watched Hayner's lifeless body lay face first on the ground in front of him. Roxas almost felt his own life slip away when he watched him, the strength of his body dying. He slowly fell to his knees, not knowing what else to do. Nothing mattered anymore. He'd lost everything now. He lost his friends, his family, his town and now his best friend. The dark monsters had stolen everything that mattered to Roxas. They'd even stolen his spirit.

Just when Roxas felt like giving up entirely and collapsing next to his best friend, he felt a presence behind him. He didn't know whether he should get up and run, or simply let whatever it was kill him right there. He had no idea. Whatever it was, it was simply staying still. Maybe it got a kick out of watching people's hearts completely break.

Roxas just sat there, watching Hayner, not wanting to leave his side. He watched the pale skin on his bare arms, the soft locks of his sandy hair. The presence behind him shuffled a little as if it was disturbed and Roxas was beginning to get pissed. His frowned eyes travelled along to the side toward whatever it was, even though he couldn't see the thing directly behind him, but he didn't want to turn his head entirely.

A soft sound erupted from Hayner's cold body and Roxas snapped his back toward him in surprise at the sound of a long lasting exhale of a breath. Roxas's eyes widened as Hayner's skin began to get dark, darker, darker still, black, no, pitch black? His arms started to slowly move, his hands moving along the floor to lift him up. He still exhaled, the breath being far too long for comfort.

"You have to kill him." Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned behind him to see the actual presence was not a monster, but a man dressed in black with a hood covering his head. His face was shrouded in shadow. "Kill or be killed, simple as that."

"What?!" Roxas shouted.

He turned back to Hayner who had now lifted his body a little more, but he was different. His fingers were no longer fingers, but long sharp claws. His hair being jet black. Ears that slightly pointed. His entire body as black as the night sky. Roxas then recognised what he saw instantly. "No…" Hayner was turning into one of… them. "Hayner! Snap out of it!" Roxas grabbed his friend, lifting him up examining the still lifeless face as Hayner breathed shakily and inhumanly.

The man behind Roxas grew weary and stood on his guard as he watched the boy shake the soon-to-be-monster. "Kid, there's nothing you can do, just…"

"Shut up!" Roxas cried, sobbing as the hazel eyes of the friend his knew blurred entirely to a shade of deep yellow. Its eyes moved to look at Roxas and it looked hard, almost reading Roxas. The now dark arm of Hayner held Roxas's arm tightly and Roxas didn't know how to react, just sat there sobbing for his friend. "HAYNER!"

The yellow beads snapped into evil slits and with a horrifying shock Hayner screeched at Roxas, pushing him away with strength not of his own. Roxas flew a few metres away, landing just next to the mysterious figure that appeared a few moments ago.

Hayner held his head, screeching in pain. He twisted and turned in agony, not wanting his new instincts to overcome him. He knew his heart would never allow him to do what his body was telling him. His heart would never allow him to kill anyone. His heart… he remembered the monster from before, stealing his heart away from his body. The monster had taken it. He wanted his heart. He wanted a heart. He wanted one badly. He craved it. He needed to find a heart. He desperately cried in agony.

The man frowned underneath his hood. "He's trying to reject his body. I've never seen this happen before."

Hayner completely stopped, standing on all fours in exhaustion, finally losing his mind. The man dressed in black suddenly stepped away from Roxas and in a flurry of spinning flames he summoned two red spiky chakrams in each hand.

Roxas looked on in amazement, but the two objects must have been weapons because of how deadly they looked. His eyes suddenly widened when Hayner ran towards him screeching. It was like a nightmare, watching his best friend turn into the very thing that murdered him. He still saw Hayner there though, and because of that he didn't want to move, didn't want to protect himself. He wanted to accept what Hayner wanted to do. It put his mind in a state of terrible confusion. When Hayner's dark form leapt to him, both arms and claws outstretched, he simply closed his eyes.

No impact at all. Instead sudden sounds of dying screeches and the sensation of fiery heat on his face. He opened his eyes to just see small flames flickering around a dissolving patch of black smoke. Hayner was gone. Roxas looked at the man who was standing next to the patch, the face of the hood staring down at it. His chakrams disappeared in his hands with a small burst of flames.

"What did you do to him?" Roxas asked.

The face of the hood turned toward him and Roxas heard a sigh. "He can rest now, I promise you that."

000000

Sora had experienced a lot of odd and confusing things in his lifetime that had left is mind in a total mass of unanswered questions, but he was sure that the events of today were the undeniable winners.

He walked slowly between the buildings of his home island, eyes carefully scanning the empty atmosphere around him. Before he left the hospital he'd grabbed the strained metal pole, and was now dragging it along the floor. The sound of the pole scrapping against the cold concrete was the only thing helping him to not freak out from the silence. The silence was chilling and awkward, running through the air as if it wasn't meant to be there. It wasn't at all.

Sora gulped and took deep breaths as he walked. He was now at his limit. If he couldn't find Riku and Kairi soon he thought he might collapse in the street, and that would be very foolish indeed.

He remembered how weak Kairi was and now understood how it felt. He then grew concerned for his friend, hoping she wouldn't collapse like he knew he would soon. He didn't want that. Even though Riku was there with her to help her, Sora still didn't want her in that state. Sora cared too much for her. "Kairi…" he whispered, finding the strength in his voice fading as well. "Where are you?"

000000

Kairi sat against the wall in the grocery store's backroom, wait for Riku to come back in with some food from the shelves. Her head slowly lulled to the side, her eyes going to the small window in the room. She didn't feel right at all. Something was wrong, something inside her was crying out that _something_ was wrong. Her expression remained clueless, her eyes drooping in exhaustion. "Sora…" she whispered before drifting into an unwanted sleep.

Moments later Riku walked into the small room to find Kairi asleep on the floor in an uncomfortable looking position, slumped against the hard wall. He placed the food on the floor carefully then walked towards Kairi's resting figure, crouching down in front of her.

Her dreams were uncomfortable, Riku could tell by the way her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyelids were harshly twitching. He felt bad for everything that had happened, it was giving her nightmares and there wasn't much he could do. He ran a smooth hand down her soft cheeks to try and calm her subconscious down a little, but once he stopped, Kairi's eyes flickered open. Riku smiled at her, hoping he didn't startle her.

"Riku…" she said groggily.

"Here, I've got some food," he replied softly, passing her a packet of crisps and a tin of peaches. There was plenty more he'd brought in but he thought this might keep her strength up a little for the time being. "It was all I could find," he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"It's okay," she smiled gratefully, pulling herself forward and taking the crisps, "thanks Riku."

Riku smiled in return, happy he was doing something to help. "I'm gonna go outside and look for Sora, you stay put okay?"

"Just be careful," she said, opening the packet. Riku nodded and headed out of the room. Kairi looked out to the small window again and her eyes dimmed, sighing to herself. "Hang in there, Sora."

000000

Outside in the empty streets, Sora's vision was become unsteady and his head felt heavy. It felt like there was a monster inside his stomach eating away at the walls of his stomach, finding any spec of food it could but failing. He felt awful. His pace was only a few mini-steps at the time and the thought of food was the only thing he could think of, but it was making him ill. _I don't think I'll make it back guys._

_Giving up already?_

Sora's eyes opened to the sound of Riku words in his head.

_Come on Sora, you can do better than that._

His eyes were wide open but his vision was not, he turned his head around frantically, regretting it as he did, making him feel even more ill. He could feel a presence, and his mind fell into panic, but he couldn't concentrate on anything. He tried to remember Riku's voice in his head, wanting some more encouraging words, but nothing came. He needed to find his own strength, the strength deep down to keep him alive, but he couldn't find it. The whole world was spinning. His body was heavy now, he wanted to sleep, but he was too scared he'd never wake up.

Sora lost his footing and he fell backwards, feeling the air rush past his face as he fell. His eyes closed shut and his arms numbly swooped forward. He was falling, falling, falling into a sleep.

He lost consciousness and his mind fell into an endless pit of darkness. He'd fallen asleep too suddenly to feel his body fall into the arms of his silver haired best friend.


	5. Hope

Chapter 5

Kairi's eyes fluttered open as she awoke from her nap in the backroom of the hideaway grocery store. She cringed as awoke on her side on the hard carpeted floor beside the desk, but stopped when she opened her eyes. She was surprised to see her vision adjust to a familiar sleeping face right in front of hers, and she took a few moments to accept the rush of huge relief that took over her as she stared at Sora's restful expression.

In that moment all the thoughts of her dreams and the memories of recent events cleared from her mind, she was too happy to see Sora safe. She felt his soft breath against her face, and felt another slight feel of relief knowing he was alive.

She brought her hand up from her waist and carefully stroked Sora's cheek, smiling at her friend. She couldn't imagine what she'd do without him. He was always there to help her, stick up for her, make her laugh, cheer her up… She knew she had Riku for all those things as well, but something about Sora's personality made her feel so much more relaxed. She'd never dream of choosing over her two favourite people, it would be a decision she could never possibly make. Riku was there to protect her and to make sure nothing made her upset. Sora was there to reassure her and make her as happy as possible. Without one the other couldn't work.

She closed her eyes, tears slightly glazing over her ocean blues. She was so happy Sora was okay, but she knew she'd have to go through the fear of losing him over and over again from now on. She was terrified that one day the pattern would eventually stop, and she'd loose either Sora or Riku completely.

In a state of fear she shuffled closer to Sora's body, huddling herself close. She held his motionless hand that numbly rested in front of him. She never wanted to loose him, never. That fact he was asleep didn't help the matter, she felt so distant from him. He was in his dreams, she was here in reality; two entirely different places. A gentle sob escaped her lips, wishing Sora was truly there with her. Riku wasn't there either, she was alone again. She looked into Sora's un-responding face and a lone tear ran down her face. _Don't leave me alone again, Sora, please. Talk to me. Tell me everything will be okay. We'll all be fine won't we? Talk to me Sora, talk to me._

She felt a small grip in their entwined fingers and she gasped lightly, looking down toward their hands. Sora gripped a little harder, holding Kairi's hand tightly. She smiled, looking back into his face. He was still asleep, still far away from her, but at the same time he was right there with her. She knew now. "Thank you Sora."

000000

Riku paced around the lonely streets, noticing it was getting dark now. He had a gut feeling things would get a lot worse at night, so he tried to be quick to head back.

He'd walked out pretty far, trying to find anyone or any answers. He'd come into contact with another dark creature, but somehow surpassed it. With his strength now back from the food, he felt one hundred times better than before. He managed to kill the creature by hitting it hard on the head with the metal pole Sora had with him, it vanished into black smoke surprisingly. Well, nothing seemed to surprise Riku that much anymore.

Riku felt very lucky to find Sora right before he collapsed. He couldn't bare the thought of his best friend lying there in the road as a free dinner to the deathly creatures. Riku knew he shouldn't have left Sora alone, but he thought it the only way to protect Kairi. She could barely stick into consciousness, let alone run for her self. Riku began to even question the amount of luck the three of them were getting lately.

He carried on walking through the street, finding his way back by trying to remember things he'd passed on the way. The red car that had been flipped upside down, the smashed up telephone box, the music shop covered in graffiti, the patch of dried blood smack bang in the middle of the road, the bulletin board… wait. Riku hadn't seen that yet. Curiously he walked over to it, examining all the papers of notes, advertisements and announcements. One huge poster that covered most of the rest caught his eye immediately, and he quickly ripped it off of the board. His eyes scanned the huge bold letters spelling out the word 'EVACUATION' then read the rest of the article.

_An immediate order of evacuation has been declared by the mayor of Destiny Islands. The infection has vastly spread, killing many and increasing the infection far too quickly. All inhabitants must report to the Gummi Station on the 15__th__ May at 6.30pm. REPEAT: Complete evacuation of Destiny Islands!_

Riku's eyes widened and looked at the other notes on the board, noticing the smaller notes that read '7 DAYS' and another just next to it reading '6 DAYS' then all the others '5 DAYS' '4 DAYS' '3 DAYS' '2 DAYS' '1 DAY' 'TODAY!' His expression fell into a look of horror. He checked the date of the automated clock above the board and read it as the 19th May. He dropped the poster in his hand and his expression had gone from horror to panic. They'd missed the evacuation whilst they were in hospital, and everyone had simply left them there. He couldn't believe it. Where were his parents? They would never just leave him to rot on a hospital bed. He couldn't believe what was happening.

Riku trailed his eyes toward the board again and noticed a note to the side, looking like it was freshly posted on there. He grabbed the paper and read the title as 'SALVATION IS HERE!'. Suddenly interested in the word 'salvation', Riku read on.

_Don't fear! Survivors of this infection still have hope! We are a group that can protect you at our base. We too are just like you, not knowing which path to take now our lives have been snatched away. We can help you. Our base is in Radiant Garden in the great castle, you can't miss it!_

Riku frowned at the desperate words but still clutched the paper in his hand. This place could surely help them. He knew that castle, the castle was secure and big, a safe place for all of them. It was their only hope anyway. He shoved the paper into his pocket and looked up at the empty sky. It was getting too dark now, he had to hurry back.

000000

Back at the abandoned grocery store, after a few hours, Sora had awoken and eaten. Kairi had been more than happy to finally be with Sora again, and even more happier as she watched the colour on his face slowly reappear after ever mouthful of peaches.

"Considering these are tinned, these are pretty damn good!" Sora's voice was muffled with his mouth full of juicy peaches, and some of the contents spat onto Kairi's face.

Kairi cringed and wiped it off with the back of her sleeve from the hospital gown. "Damn it Sora don't speak with your mouth full."

Sora looked at the green hospital clothes they were both wearing, then noticed how dirty both their hair was. He realised that none of them had properly washed in four weeks which made him frown. "When it's light I seriously think we should go to Riku's and have a shower."

"I dunno… I tried to use the hot water from that tap," she pointed towards the small tap in the corner of the room that sat next to a counter, "and I tried a lot of times, but the hot water lasted for about 5 minutes then never came back."

Sora frowned and shoved another peach in his mouth.

"Something tells me the Island's hot water has been cut down, so there's only a little left in each house."

Sora shrugged. "Maybe the tap's just broken."

"Hmm… Maybe," Kairi said quietly, though she wasn't convinced.

"Well if worst comes to the worst, we can share a shower." Sora nudged her with a wink. Kairi blushed and looked away with a small smile.

"Sora…" she giggled.

The door to the small room opened and Riku walked in with a face like thunder.

"Hey Riku, you find anything?" Sora asked from the floor next to Kairi.

Riku looked at him seriously, standing still in front of the two. He sighed. "See for yourself," he said then threw the evacuation notice toward them.

Sora and Kairi scanned the paper for a couple of minutes and Riku could see the colour drain from both their faces, looking as if all their hope, all their confidence had now been squashed like a tiny fly. Riku decided to let the news sink properly into their minds before he presented them with some half-good news.

Kairi looked at Sora, hoping some reassuring words would come out of him, but he was silent. She closed the small gape in her mouth and looked at the floor, feeling like there was no hope for any of them.

Sora then looked at Riku, his eyes darting at his with silenced questions. Riku smiled a little then threw the other notice toward them. "This is our only solution, it's a tough one, but it's the only one."

Again both Sora and Kairi read through the notice, this time their faces confused and not convinced.

"Radiant Garden?! Do you know how far that is?!" Sora cried.

"We'll go the station, get a gummi ship, fly over there, if the place isn't actually there… well Radiant Garden is a lot safer than this place anyway."

"Safe because it's huge? Or safe because you're dumb enough to think these creatures aren't gonna be there too?"

Riku frowned at Sora's remark. "If you have any other suggestions Sora go right ahead!"

"How do you know all the gummi ships haven't all been taken during the evacuation?"

Kairi looked at Sora in disbelief. This wasn't like him at all. Usually he'd be up and ready for this one and only spring of hope for the three of them. But he was shutting it out like it was the worst idea ever.

Riku had noticed this too, and began to grow angry at Sora's attitude. "It's worth a try," he replied strongly.

Sora sighed and folded his arms, suddenly uninterested in the peaches besides him.

Riku looked at his friend who was sulking like a baby, and instead Riku's anger turned to concern. These past events were really getting to Sora, and Riku didn't like the effect they were having upon him. Even Sora, of all people, his hopes were getting crushed.


	6. Confidence vs Cautiousness

Chapter 6

Riku hated to see Kairi so distraught. He was trying his damned hardest to not let their spirits die and their hopes get crushed, but he didn't think he'd have a hard time doing that with Sora. Sora always thought that the glass was half full, never half empty. But right now he was shutting out the only solution they had, even though it wasn't an impossible idea at all. And if Sora was being an ass, then Kairi would go along with it, because she always went along with whatever Sora thought.

Riku rubbed his temples. He was never good at changing Sora's mind because of how stubborn he was. Probably because 99 of the time he was right in everything they argued about, but Riku knew that right now that 1 had finally shown up.

"Sora, get up," Riku ordered.

Sora looked up at him from the floor with a frown. "Huh?"

"Get up and look me in the eyes. Tell me that we're doomed."

"We're not doomed, Riku…"

"Get up!"

Sora sighed at Riku's tone and got up from the floor, standing in front of Riku. Kairi watched on quietly, not liking the tension Riku had in his eyes. It was very rare she saw Riku so angry at Sora, though he didn't dare show it properly.

"So if we can't get to Radiant Garden, what are we going to do?" Riku asked seriously, looking right into Sora's eyes, watching them to make sure they didn't glance away in the slightest, watching them to make sure they were looking at him and not through him.

"Riku… Radiant Garden is at least four worlds away…"

"So?"

"So we wouldn't be able to make it."

"Why not? We have food, we have drink. Gummis aren't that hard to fly, and you know I've flown one before."

Riku's glare sharpened as Sora's eyes travelled downward, not knowing what to say.

What Kairi was seeing was extraordinary. It was like her two friends had completely switched personality. Riku being the one making the right decision to keep them all safe, when usually that would be Sora. And Sora being the one thinking negatively, imagining the worst that could happen, which would be what Riku would usually do.

Riku sighed and softened his eyes to his friend, suddenly aware of how harsh he was being. Sora was only concerned for them all, he knew that. He'd never known before how Sora would act in such a strange situation they were all in at the moment, and judging by the way he was acting now, this would be it.

"Sora, you have to trust me to look after the both of you," he said, then looked at Kairi aswell, "if we don't do this we'll be wondering forever what it would have been like if we did. It might even save us."

Sora was silent for a moment, chewing the inside of his cheek in thought. "So you think people are going to be there?"

"Judging by this poster, I think so."

"Okay well I guess that's one thing off our shoulders. We can stay with them until this all blows over, right?"

Riku frowned. "Whoa now, we don't even know if we can trust these people. We'll need to check it out first."

"What do you mean by that?! What would make them different to any of us?"

Riku sighed and rested his hands on his hips. "I'm just trying to be careful."

"We've found people Riku! Don't you get it? We're almost safe!"

Kairi giggled from the floor and both Riku and Sora shot their glance at her outburst. She looked up with a smile.

"You guys had me worried there; I thought you'd both switched personalities," she said with a relieved smile.

Sora and Riku looked back at each other confused, tracing over their previous heated conversation, then started to realise what she meant. Sora backed away from Riku suddenly, pointing a finger at him in shock.

"Stop stealing my confidence!"

Riku laughed in dismay, sad that his trick had worn off and he hadn't even realised until Kairi pointed it out. "Damn," he said to himself.

They both knew what they were like, but couldn't help the way they were. It sort of flowed naturally. Riku was constantly trying to be careful and safe, whereas Sora was just bottled up with confidence and optimism. Both knew one worked with the other, and Riku would always try to catch Sora out by pretending to be the more confident one so that he'd suddenly become more aware and cautious. It was like a law; one had to be confident and the other had to be safe.

However in the situation they had at the moment, Riku was entirely confident that going to Radiant Garden was the right thing to do. He just made the mistake of showering the confidence over Sora, causing Sora to be thinking too cautiously about it. Riku now made a note of trying not to act too over-confident around his best friend.

Sora on the other hand had not caught onto the whole thing, and was completely clueless to the apparent personality law between the two. He just thought Riku naturally had a stick up his arse.

"Honestly, you two are hopeless," Kairi fondly sighed.

Sora was more than confused at the situation, but decided to wave it off. "Okay so we're in agreement?"

"I think we are." Riku nodded to Kairi with a smile, arms folded to his chest.

"To Radiant Garden?"

"To Radiant Garden," both Riku and Kairi chirped.

000000

The air was deadly cold in Twilight Town. The silence made it all the more chilling. Roxas had grown used to it over the past couple days.

The wind lightly howled through the small gate of his small but safe sanctuary. Roxas and his now deceased friends used to call it 'the usual spot'. It was perfect for the four of them. Pence would perch himself on the pile of boxes, Ollete would sit on the worn out couch with Roxas, and Hayner would sit on the small broken generator where everyone could see him when he talked.

Roxas still sat where he usually sat, on the left hand side of the couch. He had his knees huddled close to him, not knowing what to think, not knowing what to do. He'd searched the town more than twice, and there was no sight of anyone at all. Twilight Town was now completely empty. The more empty he realised it was, the more empty his mind began to feel.

He only had one thing now to keep him sane, and that was the regular visits he got from the mysterious man shrouded in black. But since the man always refused to reveal his personality, it wasn't much use for his sanity at all.

"Roxas."

Roxas peered over his knees, seeing said mysterious man in front of him. Roxas had given up on asking how he got there; he always seemed to appear out of nowhere without giving Roxas an explanation. "Hey," Roxas mumbled into his knees.

"How you holding up kid?"

"I'm running out of food. Oh, and I think I'm finally realising that my entire life has just been blown out like a flame in a blizzard," he replied more than sarcastically.

The man was silent for a few seconds, not knowing how he could reply. He'd kept coming back to check on Roxas because… well… he hadn't ever had to leave someone completely alone like this after saving them from the creatures, and he didn't want to just vanish and leave him to go insane from depression or anything like that. So he promised to check on him every now and again, to get him food and keep him safe. Deep down Roxas did more than appreciate it; he just had a hard time expressing it at the moment.

"I'll get you some food soon."

Roxas didn't reply, just closed his eyes and huddled himself closer as the wind picked up.

"You know you should move somewhere safer, this place is a dump."

Roxas frowned. "Thanks but I'm staying put."

"Why?"

"Because this is where we all came when we were trying to get away from Seifer and his gang, this is our territory, no one can step foot in here without our permission."

"But they're practically dead now."

Roxas growled and stood up, growing impatient with how rude the man was. He'd always make remarks that pissed Roxas off, as if he didn't know words could hurt anyone's feelings. "Don't fucking say that!"

"Kid, it's true. They're gone; they've been turned into monsters. They're not coming back so why not just leave this dump and find somewhere safer?"

Roxas couldn't say anything, just stared daggers at him. "Do you even have a heart?"

This caused the man to become deadly silent and still, and his composure slowly stood neat, his back straightening. Roxas frowned at the reaction, still staring at the cloaked face angrily. The silence the hung around them caused the man to move toward the gate. "I'll get you your food now."

He left through the gate and shut it behind him, calmly walking out of eye's sight. Roxas questioned to himself the sudden natural exit instead of the whole black wire, dark portal, teleporting method the man usually used. Roxas huffed in annoyance, he didn't care. The man had really pissed him off now, and he just wanted to sleep. Anything to get away from this harsh reality he was now stuck and living in.

000000

Kairi, Sora and Riku were hiding around a corner as they peered round, seeing two of the dark creatures walk past the entrance to the gummi station's grounds. They were sniffing around, trying to find something, or someone. Kairi was terrified that they would spot them. One of them was already way too dangerous, let alone two of them.

Sora had his eyes fixed else-where, looking straight into the open grounds of the gummi station and could just about see one gummi ship left parked. He inwardly thanked the huge amount of luck they all had, then focused back on the creatures that were slowly moving away.

"You see the gummi?" Riku whispered to Sora.

Sora simply nodded.

"I still think we should have gone to your house Riku and found some different clothes. You've still got blood all over your hospital clothes," Kairi said with a cringe.

"Kairi look," he pointed toward the creatures who were now almost safe enough away, "we can't take any risks; we need to get out of this place as soon as possible."

"And we will do," Sora added. "Don't worry Kairi, maybe if we're lucky there will be gummi suits on board and we can play space man."

Kairi quietly giggled and nudged him in the leg. "Sora this is no time for games."

"Seriously though, Riku, I don't know if it's safe you flying that thing," Sora pointed out.

"I can do it, I'll get us out of here."

Kairi sighed again at the changing personality trait, but didn't say anything. After all, Riku would need all the confidence he could get once they were on the gummi.


	7. Take Off

Chapter 7

Sora slowly tip toed through the big open gates of the gummi station, keeping his eyes to the side to make sure the creatures didn't turn around and spot him. They were far enough to not notice his shaky breathing or his awkward steps, but even he could hear his own heartbeat banging in his rib cage and was worried they would too.

Riku and Kairi had already entered the station easily, slowly walking across the huge grounds and toward the medium sized gummi ship ahead of them. They were both carrying food supplies for the three of them; Riku carrying boxes and Kairi holding a couple bags in her right hand.

Sora was at the back keeping an eye out with the metal pole and Kairi worried for Sora, she didn't like the way he thought he could constantly play hero when in reality he wasn't as strong as he hoped he was. She looked ahead to Riku to see him far too eager to get on the ship and she huffed in annoyance. She slowed down and waited for Sora to get closer to her. If Riku wasn't going to make sure Sora was safe then she would.

Sora turned his head forward to notice Kairi closer to him than expected. "Kairi, keep going," he ushered her ahead with his hands.

"I am, I'm just waiting for you," she whispered back, walking closely ahead of him.

Sora paused and looked at the back of her head, grateful for her sudden bravery. He smiled and slowly quickened his pace, catching up to Kairi swiftly then walking to the side of her. She was slightly stunning for a second when he creeped up next to her, but Sora held her hand and smiled to her. "You don't have to."

Her heart suddenly pounded in her chest and she smiled at him softly, trusting his saphire eyes with her very life. Sora gave her hand a gentle squeeze, much like the time he did when he was asleep, and Kairi felt her heart flutter this time.

A hushed voice from ahead broke their stare, and they looked on to see Riku on the steps of the gummi ship, ushering them to hurry up.

Sora held Kairi's hand tight and gently dragged her forward hurrying them up like ordered.

"Whoa this thing is bigger than I expected," Sora remarked once they were all aboard the gummi ship and the door was securely locked.

The cock-pit was big enough to walk around in, and there were four seats at the front by the controls. The pilot's seat was next to the co-pilot's seat and the other two behind each of them. There was even a small room to the side where four small beds were placed with ready-made blankets and pillows. Then on the other side was a small bathroom, which Sora was more than happy to see.

"Dibs!"

"Shotgun!" Kairi called then headed toward the co-pilot seat and plonked herself in it. Sora frowned and regretted noticing the bathroom before the co-pilot seat.

Riku sat in the pilot's seat and scanned the numerous buttons and controls while Sora went ahead into the bathroom. Kairi watched his concentrated face, then to the buttons, not having a clue what any of them did.

"You reckon you can do this?"

After a few minutes Riku smiled confidently and looked at Kairi. "Piece of cake."

Kairi smiled in relief at Riku's words then relaxed into the chair. "Everything's going to change now, isn't it?"

Riku watched her and thought to himself, trying to figure out how anything could possibly get back to normal now. He tried to imagine all the creatures being killed off by a sudden raid of soldiers, tried to imagine all the people returning back to Destiny Islands, tried to imagine seeing his parents or any of his other friends again… but he was finding it extremely difficult. "Honestly, I don't know."

Kairi gave a small exhale of breath, looking out of the window screen and holding the handles of her seat. "Maybe Radiant Garden will be everything we've ever dreamed of. I know you've always wanted to go travelling, Riku."

Riku slightly laughed. "True, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind."

Kairi had to agree, this was more like escaping, not travelling.

"Plus, I've already been to Radiant Garden."

Kairi looked at him shocked with this sudden piece of information. "Really? When?"

"I was on a school trip with Tidus and Wakka, years ago, we went to study its history and stuff like that. We even got to meet Ansem the Wise."

"Who was he?"

"He was a great scientist and Radiant Garden's ruler, everyone respected and honoured him. Even I have to admit that he was a pretty honourable guy. He made sure the town was always safe and happy." Riku smiled fondly, remembering how peaceful the town was. "He lived in the castle we're supposed to be going to, so maybe he's still there, and that's why I'm so confident about this whole thing."

"Man, I hope he's still there too. He's got to be better than our pathetic excuse for a mayor."

"Definitely."

Riku fiddled with the controls, making sure everything was in place and correct for the lift off. He checked the fuel and noticed only half a tank was left in the engine. He cursed to himself then got up from the seat, walking to the back of the cock-pit.

Kairi watched him silently, not knowing what he was up to. "Uh, Riku? Is everything okay?"

Riku opened a big cupboard door that was next to the bathroom door and rummaged through all the ship's supplies. The door to the bathroom suddenly opened and Sora walked out, jumping a little when he noticed Riku right next to him. Riku carried on searching for something as Sora made his way over to Kairi, making her scoot up so she'd sit on his lap.

"Damn," Riku cursed, closing the cupboard. "I don't know if we have enough gas to make it all the way."

Sora's hands snaked around Kairi's waist as she sat on his lap. Kairi stared at Riku with a worried frown.

"So we're gonna have to make a pit stop," Sora announced.

Riku looked at him seriously, and then thought it over in his head, trying to remember what worlds were in-between this one and Radiant Garden. It didn't matter really; every world had a gummi station. "I guess we have no choice. But we'd have to make it quick."

Riku went and sat back into the pilot's seat and fiddled with the controls some more, preparing the take off. Sora watched him fiddle around, pushing button after button, testing the steering, checking the dashboard.

Sora squinted his mouth. "This is turning out to be quite the adventure, huh?"

Kairi smiled, glad Sora was trying to lighten the mood every time it got quiet. After all, this really was becoming some sort of adventure for the three of them, and something inside Kairi fluttered with excitement.

Riku just looked on out the window screen, seeing how much take-off space they had on the field. It seemed that there was just about enough, but he wasn't too sure. He was no expert at flying gummi ships, he just had enough experience to fly it when it was up steady in the air. He really didn't know how to take off or even land, he'd never done it before. When he looked down at the controls and steering, it seemed simple enough, but the actual practical side of it could be an entirely different thing. Riku closed his eyes, trying his best to remain calm and stable, for all their sakes. Sora and Kairi didn't need to know about his lack of experience, he didn't want to cause any panic… or hear any stupid over-optimistic remarks from Sora. The truth was simple; Riku had no idea what he was doing.

"Alright, let's do this," Riku said and pushed a few buttons that turned the engine on, giving off a gentle hum. Kairi got off of Sora's lap and sat behind him, tightening her seatbelt when she did. Sora did the same, and watched out of the window screen, hoping to give Riku any support or help if he needed it.

Riku pressed another few buttons and the engine grew louder. He held onto the steering controls tightly and the ship began to gently ease forward. _Good, first part's over with easily_, he thought to himself.

The ship began to line up to the run way, when suddenly that all too familiar shrieking could be heard in the distance. Sora's eyes widened at the sight through the screen, seeing three, no, four of the horrible pitch black creatures running toward the ship madly. Riku's face paled at the sight, not really sure what to do next, his hand ready on the gas.

"Riku, go…" Sora spoke, eyes fixed on the creatures ahead.

Riku felt the engine hum eagerly, almost waiting for him to push on the gas to bring these evil things to their doom. He thought sensibly though, remembering the car accident all those weeks ago. By simply wanting to run the damn thing over, look where that led him.

He frowned and his eyes focused on the run way carefully, his eye contact avoiding the creatures completely. He rammed the gas up with force before the creatures could get too close, and the gummi ship starting to move forward quickly.

Kairi held onto the arms of her seat in shock, startled at the sudden force of Riku's control of the ship. She looked at Sora, who looked equally startled. Kairi felt uneasy, remembering the car crash herself, hoping to god Riku was being himself and thinking safely and wisely.

The creatures snarled, drool hanging from their mouths as their pace quickened when the ship headed toward them. They were hungry, very hungry. After all, they hadn't found much in Destiny Islands lately because of the evacuation. They were each as desperate as the other as they could hear the pounding of the three human's heartbeats in their pointy black ears.

Riku's eyes turned to slits as he concentrated. The pressure was now on. He barely knew how to take off, let alone dodge the creatures in the run-way at the same time. One huge intake of breath and he prepared himself for the first dodge as the first creature was now close enough.

The small wheels of the ship skimmed to the left as Riku swung the steering wheel harshly, then swung it back again just as roughly to get the balance of the ship equal. Sora and Kairi held on tightly in fear, not knowing how this would work or whether Riku was with his true senses. Riku breathed heavily, noting how the wheels didn't run the creature down at all. He sighed in relief; one down, three to go.

He swung the wheel to the right, to the left, to the right again. He stepped on the gas a little harder, picking up speed, ready to take off and dodge the two left at the same time.

Big mistake.

The speed was enough to catch one of them on the wheels, and it splattered across the turf horribly, blood staining the metal of the ship. Memories of the car accident came back to them all instantly, and Kairi and Sora dreaded the worst, shutting their eyes in terror. The ship swerved slightly, but Riku managed to catch and hold the wheel to keep the ship just about steady. He looked ahead, noticing the path now completely clear. He decided to go for it as he didn't have much turf left before they hit the ocean ahead of them. He pulled the wheel back and the nose of the ship slowly started to rise. It was a huge effort, and Riku wasn't sure if he was doing it right at all.

Sora and Kairi opened their eyes at the sudden change of balance the ship had gained and saw no sign of monsters ahead, only screeches from behind them. Sora cheered, relieved Riku had managed to dodge nearly every one and lifted them off as well.

The ship began to fly, and Riku felt an enormous smile cross his face. He'd done it. The ship got higher and just passed the end of the run way, flying swiftly across the ocean with enough speed to get them even higher. Riku kept pulling back on the wheel, holding it there as the ship headed up, toward the massive sky above them and suddenly stars became visible to the three friends eyes.

Kairi stared in admiration at the perfect sky ahead of them, excitement taking over her entire body.

Riku kept the ship steady as it passed through the rough atmosphere. The ship began to shudder and quake, trying to brake through the boundary of their world. The three of them held on tightly, finding it hard to stay calm as it felt like they were stuck in an earthquake.

Kairi whimpered, not liking the sensation at all. She closed her eyes, wanting it to stop already, willing it to with her mind. She prayed that they all get through this in one piece.

Then right when they weren't expecting it, the shaking and quaking suddenly stopped, and the entire ship was flying smoothly again. The roaring sound had gone and left nothing but peaceful silence.

Riku, Sora and Kairi each opened their eyes to something utterly extraordinary. The big white stars shone brightly into their eyes, and the darkness of the sky brought their panic to a relaxed halt. Their breathing was now steady, and each almost thought they could cry right there and then. It was beautiful.

They'd made it.


	8. Forgotten Memories?

_Hey guys! I just want to apologize for how late this chapter is. I had a serious case of writer's block and I've been busy as well. But the good news is I've finally thought out on how I want this story to go, so I now have a little more inspiration. I'm trying hard not to rush into it though, so I'm sorry if you find that the gummi scenes will tend to drag on. Trust me, you'll thank me later when the good bits come along._

_Also I'm going to try and say this without giving too much away, but I will be adding a yaoi relationship into the story. It's not gonna be like a main thing or too heavy. It's just gonna be a cute, light, on the side little add on. Nothing major. I hope it won't ruin things for any of you but it's something I really want to put in here._

_Also, I'm gonna be in Paris for a week, so there won't be an update for a week. Sorry :(_

_Anyways, thanks for all the support so far and keep the reviews coming. I adore reviews x_

Chapter 8

Content silence hung over a huge pristine white room. White walls, white floor, white furniture.

A long well-designed dining table sat in the middle of the room with tall elegant chairs dotted around it. The walls were lightly patterned with a slightly darker shade of white, showing odd shapes and a repeated symbol. The symbol was carved into the backs of the chairs, as well as painted into the middle of the dining table. Even the ceiling had the huge mysterious symbol painting across it.

The only thing that wasn't white or didn't bare the symbol in the room was the contrasted man at the head of the table. He sat alone, dressed in a black robe. Long silver hair draped on his shoulders, small spiky bangs covering the sides of his forehead, showing up his tanned skin. His eyes were shut and his gloved hands rested upon the table quietly.

Not anyone could possibly tell what was running through the man's mind at that moment. His face was a picture of complete emptiness. You'd know that he was thinking, but you'd never know what about.

A blurred sound came to his right and a black portal circled upward in an area next to him. Once the wires vanished the silence was met again, and another man dressed in the same black cloak stood beside the man at the table with his hood hiding his face.

The man at the table opened his eyes slowly, revealing striking golden yellow orbs. He stared forward, not bothering to look at the other man. "What is it, Marluxia?"

The man next to him brought his hand to his hood, and in one delicate move he removed it. Light pink feathered hair carelessly bounced from the freedom and the man known as Marluxia looked toward his master. "I found some survivors in Destiny Islands, only three. Two male, one female."

The man at the table nodded slightly. "You're leading them here, I hope."

"Yes."

"Very good."

"But…" Marluxia lifted his head, "One of them, the younger male, he bares a striking resemblance…"

"To Roxas?"

Marluxia looked surprised at the remark for a second, suddenly weary about his own lack of knowledge compared to his master's.

The silver haired man smiled. "You should already know the explanation to that, Marluxia."

Marluxia's eyes concentrated for a minute at his face. "You mean…?"

"Do not worry about the boy. Just be sure their journey is successful."

Marluxia remained silent for a few seconds, looking down at the floor. Then his eyes went back to their emotionless state, looking back at his master.

"Xemnas, sir, can I ask… has anyone found Roxas yet?"

His master, Xemnas, looked at Marluxia, turning his head slowly. "Indeed."

000000

The gummi ship flew steadily through the enormous black sky. Sora had lost count of how many shooting stars he'd seen flash across it. It was still a huge experience to him, flying, travelling, leaving his home world to find another, this beautiful atmosphere. He was loving every minute of it… but there was still a part of him that already began to miss the Islands. He'd probably never see the beach again, build tree houses, climb paopu trees or eat coconuts.

He'd remembered to take a small reminder with him incase he never went home again, he'd picked a paopu fruit just before they left and shoved it into the small pocket of his hospital gown. They only ever grew in Destiny Islands and no where else. Riku used to say there was a small myth of the paopu fruit, that if two people shared it together, both their destinies would become intertwined, and they'd forever be apart of each other.

Sora smiled as he remembered when Riku told him the myth, and then his eyes slowly fell toward Kairi, who was sat in the seat next to him behind Riku's eating away at a bar of chocolate. His blue eyes lingered on her calm face as he thought about the paopu fruit in his pocket. Sharing a destiny with Kairi would make him more than happy. He was totally unaware of the fond smile taking over his face when he stared at his red haired friend.

Riku took a small glance over his shoulder to see the expression plastered over Sora's face, and then noticed the yellow fruit in his hand. Riku grinned with mischief to himself then returned to look out into the dark sky, resting his hands behind his head.

"Hey Riku, why don't you tell us that story of when Sora ate a slug, thinking it was a Wine Gum," Kairi chirped.

Sora looked mortified as Riku suddenly burst into laughter from his chair at Kairi's random conversation starter.

Kairi giggled in-tow, looking at Sora's face. "You weren't drunk were you?"

"He was perfectly sober!" Riku laughed, holding his stomach with one hand.

Sora puffed out his cheeks with a pout then quickly shoved the paopu fruit back into his pocket, feeling the moment completely ruined. "In my defence, it was a weird colour."

"You still don't pick things off the floor and eat them."

"Shut up Riku, it was in your bedroom!"

"Ewwwww!" Kairi laughed. Riku's cheeks were now going red.

"You should clean it more often," Sora smugly smiled, folding his arms.

"And you should stop eating slugs." Riku glared, folding his arms back.

"What did it taste like?" Kairi asked in curiosity, still giggling.

"Like…" Sora tried to remember the memory he normally tried desperately to forget. The slimy texture, the wiggly feeling in his mouth, the lack of fruity taste. "Ugh." Sora suddenly felt sick.

000000

Back in Twilight Town, Roxas and his mysterious companion walked along the empty streets. Roxas wanted to go for a walk and clear his head. His mind recently had been going into completely manic overdrive because of the recent events that had occurred, but who could blame him?

The mysterious man who walked alongside him was only there to make sure nothing popped out at Roxas. For some reason he didn't get Roxas' feelings and literally wasn't understanding what he was going through. The only thing he thought would help him was to stay here with him. He knew leaving a human on their own for too long would drive them to hysteria, so he thought this was the least he could do after just killing someone who meant a lot to Roxas.

"Hey, um, whoever you are… you know you don't have to do this." Roxas said quietly, his hand resting in his pockets as they walked.

The man looked at Roxas, the black hood still draped over his head. "Do what?"

"You know, protect me and stuff. You and I both know this can't go on forever."

"I'll stay with you until you're safe."

Roxas looked up at the tall man, feeling a rush of gratitude at the comment he made. The he looked back down at the ground, suddenly remembering why he was here in the first place. Remembering how Hayner's deformed body burst into flames at the command of this stranger. This stranger who wouldn't leave him alone. The stranger who was constantly protecting him, even went as far as killing his best friend to make sure he was safe. Roxas closed his eyes, wishing that one memory would disappear already.

"There must be a reason you're here, can't you at least tell me that?"

"Not yet, no."

"When can you?"

The man was silent for a few seconds as they kept walking through the silent street. Walking past broken windows and battered lampposts.

"As soon as you start remembering things, Roxas."

Roxas frowned but didn't question that statement at all. Nearly everything the man said confused Roxas to no extent. This must have been another confusing riddle that spurred out of the man's mouth. He could have a little fun with it.

"Remember what?"

"That's for you to remember."

"What if I already remember?"

"Remember what?"

"What there is to remember."

"And that is?"

"What, you don't remember?"

"Of course I remember."

"Then what is it?"

"That you're… WAIT!"

Roxas laughed at the man and the man just stared at him through the hood, totally stunned at how Roxas managed to do that, and slightly aggravated. Still, something stirred in his chest when he watched the smile grace Roxas' face. The soft childish laughter was almost like music to his ears.

"That was too easy; you know you're not as clever and mysterious as you think you're made out to be."

The man sighed. "I'm glad you remember that, at least."

Roxas' laugh died a little at the confusing statement, wondering whether to take that one seriously or not. But the man suddenly straightened up and carried on walking.

"Let's just go. To wherever it was you wanted to go."

Roxas shook his head and took a quick jog to the man, catching up with him and walking alongside him again. The man could be a weird one at times, but at least he was there.

000000

"Okay guys I think we're almost there," Riku announced to his two slumbering friends. Sora and Kairi were curled up the seats behind Riku's as hours had past since they left Destiny Islands.

Sora mumbled something then curled even tighter, not wanting to wake up.

"Sora wake up you lazy turd," Riku huffed.

Kairi yawned and then rose from her seat with a stretch. "Where are we?" she asked groggily.

"I don't know, but we need to stop there, the tank's almost empty."

Kairi nodded then walked towards Sora's body, giving him a hard poke in the side of his stomach.

Sora yelped loudly and flexed quickly to the side to see Kairi stood there with a grin. "Get up."

"You're not my mum," Sora mumbled.

"Thank god," she replied and went to sit in the passenger seat next to Riku.

Riku looked at her from the side and grinned to himself, remembering the paopu fruit Sora had hidden in his pocket, then remembering the way he was looking at Kairi. He'd always known for ages that Sora had a crush on Kairi. Even though Sora wouldn't admit it, it was blatantly obvious.

"We're not stopping for long are we?" Kairi asked.

"Depends how long it takes to find the gas we need. We must need to stock up on food as well."

Kairi mumbled in accord and leaned her head back on the chair, watching as the world before them became closer and closer.


	9. Eye to Eye

Chapter 9

Roxas' walk had been more than peaceful. The night had taken over again, and the stars in the sky seemed to be brighter than ever. It was a shame he had no one but the man to share the image with.

The man beside him hadn't spoken in some time, and there seemed to be no monsters lurking around. It felt weird. The silence was annoying him, but he thought that he should get used to it, since his town was now practically dead. It was getting to him, but he tried his hardest not to let it too much. If it did then he'd be going insane in no time.

Roxas kept his hands in his pockets, trying his best not to fidget. He inwardly sighed. "It's quiet," he said to himself more than to the man next to him.

"Yes, you've said."

Roxas frowned, dragging his head down in annoyance. The man was incredibly anti-social. He completely appreciated the man's strange request in insisting to stay with Roxas until he was safe, because he didn't feel as lonely and hopeless, but boy the guy was hard to talk to. Whenever Roxas asked him a question, he'd wait a few seconds, think about answering it, then give him either a one word answer or no answer at all. It was irritating, but Roxas didn't pry on it. He was lucky to have anybody beside him at all.

Roxas couldn't handle the silence anymore. "Can you at least _try_ and keep a conversation flowing?"

The man kept walking along the dark cobbled street. "What do you mean?"

"I mean keep talking, even if you haven't got anything useful to say."

"What's the point in that?"

Roxas laughed a little to himself. "Man, you're hopeless. Anyone would think you're a robot."

The man turned his head toward Roxas, still walking along with him. He suddenly seemed intrigued with Roxas' statement, and decided to carry it on. Not because Roxas wanted him to, but because he was interested. "You mean, like a machine?"

"I guess a robot can be classed as a machine too." Roxas said with a shrug, his eyes drooped as his they became tired. The silent night atmosphere was making him lazy, and because there were no monsters around to rush his adrenaline, it made it all the worse.

The man turned his head forward again. "I'm not a machine," he said hardly.

Roxas looked at him this time, surprised at his tone of voice. "It was just a figure of spee-"

"Machines control things, create things, destroy things; all in the act of simply being ordered to do so. I am not a machine."

His voice was so serious it made Roxas flinch. He didn't know what to say for a few seconds, worrying he might say something wrong again. "Hey, I'm sorry if I hit a nerve. It's just… you're so emotionless sometimes," he apologized gently.

The man stopped in his tracks and Roxas noticed quickly, immediately regretting saying anything at all.

"Um, okay. That was low. You probably took that the wrong way. I, err-"

"No," the man silenced him and Roxas stopped his bantering, becoming quiet at the sternness of his voice. "You don't understand anymore."

Roxas frowned and stood in front of him, utterly confused yet again. _What the hell did he mean by that? Was that an insult? _"If you're trying to insult me then fine, I dunno if I deserved that or not. You're so bottled and mysterious I can't even tell."

The man stayed perfectly still.

"And stop with the confusing statements. You keep saying these things as if we've met before."

Silence followed again for quite a while as the two people looked at each other. The man tried desperately not to say anything he'd get in trouble for saying, but his head was pounding. He wanted to cry out and break free of this barrier that kept him from saying or doing anything he wasn't ordered to do.

The man tried to calm his thoughts down, and eventually regained his composure.

"Maybe we have, Roxas."

Roxas hadn't and couldn't have noticed what just happened inside the man's head. So he simply dusted away the comment like all the others he'd made.

Roxas sighed. "Let's go to the gummi station. Maybe I'll get lucky."

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Meanwhile, deep in Twilight Town's rough atmosphere, the Destiny Island's gummi ship rattled and shook as Riku tried to control it forward. Things were beeping in his ears, lights were flashing in the corner of his eyes, Kairi's yelling was ringing throughout the small cockpit. Sora simply held himself in his seat, holding on tightly and keeping confidence in Riku to get the thing through the hard atmosphere, let alone land it.

"Kairi would you calm down! I know what I'm doing!" Riku yelled in frustration as he held the control stick firmly in his grip, flying the ship forward through the floating rocks.

"But this hasn't happened before!" she yelled, weirdly holding her head in the brace position.

"Because we've never flown directly into an atmosphere before, only travelled out of one."

"Are you sure this is what you're supposed to be doing Riku?" She cried, trying to block the loud crashes and desperate beeping from her ears.

"Kairi!" Sora butted it. "We'll be fine! Look, we're halfway through."

Sora tried his best to ignore how loud everything was as well. None of them knew how this was meant to go. The only person who had the slightest idea was Riku, and he was flying the ship right now, so all could go well. Sora had to keep his confidence as always, he'd never want to wallow in despair.

"Almost there," Riku's heart pounded as they almost passed through the atmosphere, hoping and praying that this would all go smoothly. He also hoped to God that the ship hadn't been damaged through this, because he had no idea where to land or how to land it, so he needed everything to be working properly.

All three were suddenly shocked when the gummi stopped shaking and the noises stopped ringing through their ears. Everything began to run smoothly again and the world beneath them came into clear view.

Riku checked the monitors and all was OK. He sighed in relief and gave a gracious smile, leaning forward slightly. Sora and Kairi were leant back in their seats panting at the adrenaline that began to calm down through their bodies.

The view was amazing, and Riku edged the ship closer to see if he could see any flashing lights to signal a landing port.

"Everything okay?" Sora asked, still backed up in his seat wondering if there would be anymore surprising crashes.

"Should be…" Riku said distantly, concentrating on spotting the flashing lights.

Kairi looked out of the front screen, observing the world and she smiled. "This one looks really nice, like a quaint little town." As the ship got closer, other things began to be noticeable and Kairi's smiled faded a little. "Looks rather empty too."

"Don't be surprised if this place has been evacuated as well. We're here to get fuel and possibly food, nothing else. So be on your guard." Riku ordered both Kairi and Sora.

The flashing lights were now clear to see, and there toward them was a gummi station, seeming completely empty of ships and people. Riku frowned, he was probably right in thinking no one was here. He'd have to find the fuel without help.

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Roxas and the man dressed in black made their way to the gates of the huge gummi station of Twilight Town, and Roxas examined how there weren't any ships at all. He wasn't surprised, nor was he disappointed. Even if there were ships there, he'd have no idea how to fly them.

Roxas held the bars of the gates and stared into the big concrete field marked with lines and big numbers that he didn't understand. He just stared at the big open space and the run ways. He didn't want to go inside, what would be the point? He'd only be wasting energy. He was quite content in just staring into the distance.

"So this is a gummi station?"

Roxas tensed for a second at the silence being broken, and then he nodded. "Yeah. Nothing amazing, huh?"

"Where are the ships?"

"Beats me. Everyone must have taken them," he mumbled, leaning his forehead on the cold bars, gripping onto them as he stared.

Roxas looked toward the night sky, looking at each star as they sat there twinkling quietly in the sky. The sky was so dark it made them look so bright and he inwardly smiled at the beautiful sight, resting his head against his arm lazily.

He looked harder, and noticed one of the stars becoming bigger. _The North Star?_ He thought. His eyes concentrated on it as it vastly became bigger and bigger.

"So this is where you travel from world to world?" The man kept talking behind him.

"Yeah…" Roxas said distantly, focusing on the star that was now at least ten times bigger than it should be. Then he let go of the bars wearily, standing next to the man in black. Things suddenly did not feel right.

The man noticed Roxas looking into the sky so weirdly, so he checked himself to see what it was.

There, in the sky, a ship flew in the distance, ready to land right in the station.

"A gummi ship?" Roxas thought out loud, suddenly feeling an inch of hope.

The man didn't move, only stood next to Roxas as they both watched the ship get lower and lower. Roxas thought to himself that maybe they should hide, incase it wasn't safe. But why wouldn't it be safe? Surely the creatures wouldn't be smart enough to fly gummi ships? Maybe there were people on it that had come to save him.

The ship landed a far distance away from the gates that Roxas and the man stood at, and Roxas watched on at the landed ship, feeling like this was his opportune moment of salvation.

"You think it's safe to go to it?"

"I'm not sure."

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The doors to the gummi ship slowly opened downward with a hiss, leading down into steps onto the concrete ground.

Sora peeped his head around to check if the coast was clear and was met with subtle silence. All that could be heard was the cold night air howling into their ears. He couldn't see much because of how dark it was, and how most of the lights in the station weren't turned on. Sora squinted, looking for any signs that might say 'gas' or 'fuel'.

Kairi hid behind Sora, clinging onto his shoulders wearily as she looked over them, seeing if anything was going to pop out anytime soon.

"Looks okay to me," Riku stated and casually walked down the steps into the night air.

Sora frowned, annoyed at Riku's cockiness. "Stop acting so cool Riku!"

Riku snickered. "I can't help it."

Kairi rolled her eyes and walked out from behind Sora, following Riku down the steps. Sora watched as she bravely followed, then realised he was still cowering to the side of the ship. He shook his head and ran outside, catching up with the two of them quickly.

"Any idea where to start?" Kairi asked, staying close to Riku.

"Nope. We may have to split up, you can go with Sora that way, and I'll go this way," he said, pointing out into different directions.

"Why do I have to go with Sora?"

Riku looked at her, quite confused. "You don't want to?"

She blushed, looking down at the ground. "He's being a wuss, and you seem to know what you're doing." She hushed so Sora wouldn't hear.

Riku smiled fondly at his red haired friend. "All the more reason you should stay with him."

Kairi didn't say anything, just stared stubbornly at the ground as they slowly walked.

"Okay guys, we should split up, Kairi you go with Riku, and I'll go over here," Sora announced from behind them, hands on hips.

Kairi fumed for a second, confused at how Sora and Riku's minds meshed so weirdly and how they thought she was completely defenceless. "You know guys, why don't we all split up completely. I can look after myself!"

Sora and Riku looked at her, silenced by her outburst. Before they could say antying, she'd already walked off into a different direction.

"Just stay close to her Sora, make sure she doesn't wonder off."

"I heard that!" Kairi yelled from in front.

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Roxas stared at the three strangers dressed in green gowns as they split up in different directions. He heard them yelling at each other, but couldn't make out what they were saying. He was hiding behind a stack of boxes near the gates. He decided to go inside and take a closer look, just incase, but he didn't want to get too close.

The man in black hiding next to him hadn't said a word since they showed up, he hadn't warned Roxas of anything, hadn't said everything was safe. He just stayed completely silent, following Roxas' every order.

"They look like they've just escaped an insane asylum," Roxas frowned, looking at their strange clothes. He looked toward the boy with wild brown spiky hair, who was nearing the weaponry. "He's going to the weapon store, this might not be good." He bit his lip, wondering what to do. "Maybe if we sneak up on him, we can catch him before he gets a hold of a weapon."

The man next to him said nothing, but Roxas ignored it.

"Come on," Roxas said and he creeped slowly toward the weaponry, making sure the other two people didn't see him.

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Sora opened the small door to the hut, wondering what would be inside. He hoped he'd find the gas before Riku did, that would wipe the cool smirk off of his face. Sora grinned at the image as he felt around the wall of the pitch black room for a light switch. He found something, but when he flicked it, nothing happened.

Sora tutted when he realised his luck had suddenly run out. He kept the door wide open to let in as much light as possible and he took a few weary steps inside, smelling the dusty air of the small hut.

Sora looked around the shadows, not sure what he was seeing. He felt around a bit carefully with his fingertips, and noticed things pilled up onto shelves against the walls. His skin brushed against cold curved metal, then against a handle, leading toward a long nose, and then to what felt like… a trigger? Sora's eyes widened when he realised what it was. A gun. It was a small pistol, something that might come in very handy. But he felt weird. He'd never used a gun before.

Small footsteps suddenly came into his ears and Sora yelped loudly at the feel of a body leaping on top of him, making them both crash down to the floor blindly.

Riku heard the crash from the other side of the station instantly and he quickly stopped rummaging through the boxes he found and spun his head toward the small hut that Sora had entered. "Shit!" Riku cursed and sprinted toward the hut as fast as his legs could carry him, hoping to God Sora wasn't in danger.

He ran fast, hearing constant crashes from the hut. Riku began to panic. Sora didn't have a weapon, he was defenceless and vulnerable. Riku felt like a fool to let him go alone. If Kairi were there she could have at least done something to help, but he was completely alone.

"Shit shit shit," he kept cursing as he came nearer to the hut. Once at the entrance of the door he heard yelling and he quickly looked inside at the shadows moving inside the hut. He found a switch, but noticed it wasn't working, then he found another next to it and flicked it quickly which instantly illuminated the whole room.

The movement of the two bodies stopped and Sora was holding the pistol he found directly at the other boys head. Sora was pinned to the ground however by the other boy, not letting him move. They were both deadly still, letting their eyes focus onto each other as the light shone around them quickly.

Then when their eye sight became clear, what they both saw scared them both almost to death.

Identical sapphire eyes shone at each other in confusion.


End file.
